MIAMI, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T and the Florida Hotel & Motel Association (FH&MA) will co-sponsor a seminar about unblocking long-distance access codes on Thursday, March 19 at the Marriott World Center in Orlando.
The two-hour seminar, which will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., will provide attendees the opportunity to learn about a program AT&T announced early in February that will make it easier for consumers to reach the long-distance company of their choice when they call from phones in hotel, college, university, and hospital rooms.
Under this offer, which expires July 31, 1992, AT&T will provide up to $1,000 per site to help these organizations unblock "10XXX access codes." These are five-digit prefixes callers use to reach their preferred long-distance company when making calls while away from home using a phone not subscribed to the company. They punch in the prefix -- for example, "10ATT" -- before dialing "0," followed by an area code and number.
Millions of in-room phones do not enable consumers to reach their preferred long distance company, a problem known as blocking. Last year AT&T received hundreds of thousands of complaints nationwide from customers unable to reach their preferred long distance carrier. In Florida alone, AT&T received more than 73,000 access related complaints. Consumer problems with blocking were a major source of complaints to both the FCC and Florida Public Service Commission. This prompted the FCC last year to order the unblocking of all pay phones and in-room phones.
In addition to financial help, AT&T will provide general information on technical solutions that should permit hotels and motels to meet their unblocking responsibilities. The company is also sponsoring seminars to explain the FCC's unblocking order and discuss the variety of unblocking solutions available.
All Florida lodging property owners and operators are invited to attend this free seminar. For additional information or to register for the seminar, call Rosemary Winslow at 800-476-FHMA. For information about AT&T's unblocking program call the AT&T Unblocking Assistance Center, toll-free, on 800-UNBLOCK (862-5625) between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. EST., Monday through Friday.
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/CONTACT: Julie Spechler, 305-662-6411 (office) or 305-922-3537 (home); or Dan Coulter, 404-810-7373 (office) or 404-995-3889 (home), both of AT&T/ CO: AT&T ST: Florida IN: TLS SU:

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